


The Only Exception

by nanodayoooooo



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, Blind Date, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 14:17:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13215537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanodayoooooo/pseuds/nanodayoooooo
Summary: Aomine goes on a blind date, but things don't go as planned.





	The Only Exception

Aomine likes to consider himself as a patient person. He could go on for hours listening to someone drone on about something that has completely no relevance to him whatsoever. 

That being said, after going through unsuccessful blind dates, one after another, he decides that maybe he has had enough. Despite this, he lets himself get involved in one more. Just one more, to satisfy his best friend’s need of ensuring that he does not die alone eventually.

He is aware how incredibly dumb and pointless the whole setup is, if the incessant “I’m fine like this” or “I’m not interested” is anything to go by. But he thinks that if Momoi sees that after this umpteenth try, it doesn’t work out, then maybe she would stop hounding him about it and he could go on with his usual routine in the future without having to make time to meet up with strangers.

It’s not that he's lying. He isn’t depressed, moping around or even starved of affection. No, in fact, Aomine appreciates the solitude. Granted, he has never been in a relationship before in his 25 years of living. Sure there might be some days where he wonders how it would be like with a companion, but most of the days, he gets by just fine on his own.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough to guarantee his happiness - according to his best friend. So now, he was coerced into this last date with some Tom, Dick or Harry in an French restaurant downtown.

Gosh, this date.. Aomine could die of boredom after coming face to face with so many repeated questions of “So what is it that you do?” and “you’re a good-looking guy, why are you having so much trouble finding a partner? I’m sure there’s lots lining up for you”.

He puffed out the smoke from his cigarette. One last one, before throwing it to the ground and stubbing it with the heel of his shoe.

The chore.

He has been standing outside the restaurant for the past fifteen minutes, stalling. Taking as much time as he could smoking a tiny cigarette, so that he has lesser time with the date. He is aware that that itself was a dick move, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about formalities after being forced into this without any of his consent.

Really, in the history of blind dates, when has one ever ended well? On the contrary, they’re awkward, strange and uncomfortable for both parties. And then there’s the interrogation part afterward, from whoever it is that had set them up in the first place.

“He’ll be in blue. At least try to pretend like you’re enjoying yourself please?”

Alright well, here goes nothing.

As Aomine walks to the entrance of the restaurant, he makes sure that he has a pleasant expression plastered on his face - at least to the general public, if not everyone, since he was known for his signature scowl that was permanently glued there. But even though he has gone through this countless times, he could not control the familiar nerves that are setting in. The racing heartbeat that has made a home in his chest.

So Aomine does his very best to calm himself. Taking deep gulps of air, hoping that somehow the extra intake would supply enough oxygen for his heart to function normally. But as usual, to no avail.

“Table for one, sir?” A waiter woke him up from his reverie, ready to allocate him to a table.

“Uh actually, I’m here to meet someone. He’s here already so .. I’m just gonna ..” Aomine manages to squeeze out. And as eloquent as he can get. He swiftly dodges the waiter, eyes darting around trying to find his supposed date.

When his eyes actually land on someone, it was a blonde guy sporting a blue long-sleeved button up. He was sipping on a glass of grape juice? Cherry? Red wine?

Aomine inhales deeply and took several long strides to his date’s table, pulled his chair out to plop down on it. All with the grace of an elephant, startling his date. The glass of unknown red liquid that was on its way to the man’s lips pauses halfway, and Aomine could see his eyes slowly shifting to focus on the new intrusion (which is Aomine). Very akin to a deer caught in the headlights.

And wow. His eyes are sunset gold. Absolutely stunning. 

As much as he hates to admit it, the longer he looks at this guy, the quicker his heart starts to race and he isn’t sure if that is actually healthy for him. In the end, he chalks it up to his nerves and definitely, most likely not because of the facial features of this beautiful guy sitting in front of him.

Aomine shakes his head, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand.

So, right. Name.

He briefly recalls Momoi mentioning this guy’s name sometime during their late night calls or even daily conversations. Actually, maybe even more than once. But Aomine can’t seem to remember it. Normally, he doesn’t not bother keeping in mind the names of his setups. But for once, he curses his lackadaisical attitude. Curses himself for not remembering this guy’s name.

Well, shit. Guess he will have to figure this one out on his own.

“Uh hey, how’s it going? I’m Aomine,” he says, treading carefully down this road. For the first time, he wants to make a good impression on his date, and yet he forgets the poor guy’s name. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for long.”

You go, Aomine. Being polite to score better points? Maybe this will actually work in your favour for once in your life.

He internally scoffs at his efforts.

The guy lowers his glass, mouth slightly agape. He looks as though as he has something to say but the words stuck in his mouth. The guy then proceeds to scrunch his face in thought, lips pursed together.

And Aomine can’t help but think it’s a cute look on him.

Although before the guy could manage a few words, the waiter swings by. “Here’s your medium-rare steak sir”, placing a plate in front of him. “For your friend, sir?” The waiter continues.

Aomine stares cluelessly at him, having no idea whatsoever of what this restaurant serves. He ends up blurting, “Whatever he’s having is fine”.

Fuck. Shit.

Yet again, Aomine curses his luck. Red meat. Red meat scares the shit out of him. Despite his outer look, Aomine is actually an animal lover and he can’t stand how bloody the whole affair of slaughtering seems. But here he goes, ordering a meal of exactly what he hates, a cow being slaughtered.

His date, it seems, notices how uncomfortable Aomine appears and he offers some consolation saying, “The steak here is good. You won’t regret it. It’s chef’s recommendation.” To which, Aomine just grunts in reply.

And then.. Awkward silence. Okay, so apparently that problem is not going to fix on his own.

“Anyway, I’m sorry but I can’t seem to remember your name”, Aomine starts, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “My friend made sure to tell me, like so many times but it’s just not there. At all.”

The stranger now observes Aomine closely. It might also be considered scrutinising, but without supplying any name. Not until about a minute longer of close inspection. Aomine then sees a slight quirk of his lips. A small smile appearing before the stranger says, “Kise. My name is Kise.”

Kise.

Aomine finds himself wanting to try out his date’s name. But he can’t seem to find any reason to. So, he ends up sitting opposite him, staring at him eating his meal while twisting his hands together under the table like a little schoolgirl.

Ugh. How do people to these things? It’s so bad for your heart. He does not know how to even start a decent conversation. Does Kise even want to be here? To an extent, he probably does right? He did agree to this date after all. So he is sure that Kise must be intrigued to say the least. Then again, Aomine only agreed to this so that he could shut Momoi up. So he can’t be a hundred percent sure of Kise’s intentions and thought of that being the case is such a downer.

The waiter swings by their table again to pass Aomine a glass of water, while informing him that his steak is on its way and will be there shortly. Aomine thanks her, then continue observing his date who was surgically cutting his steak so systematically.

He has really good posture. Aomine wonders why. Is it even comfortable to sit like that for a long time? Or is it his occupation that requires him to stay like that? The way he uses his utensils seems peculiar too. 

Aomine silently ponders to this. He rubs his pointer finger under his chin in thought, eyes starting to droop the longer he stares at Kise.

At this moment, Kise looks up from his meal to see that Aomine was absentmindedly chewing on his fingernails. Kise gazes back, eyes a little glazed from being deep in thought, before realising that it is not actually polite to stare at someone so closely.

Aomine blinks his eyes a few times, out of his stupor. He clears his throat, reaches out to take multiple gulps of water, hoping that the glass hides the blush forming on his cheeks. Though he doubts that the case, if Kise’s quiet chuckle is anything to go by.

Kise looks amused, the second time Aomine chances a glance at him. That somehow somewhat eases Aomine a little, seeing how he hasn’t scared his date away yet.

"So…" Aomine glances down at his fingers the small pieces of steak on Kise’s plate. "You cut bodies for living or something?"

Excellent. As eloquent as ever. Aomine visibly winces at his question, eyes darting around scanning for doors so that he could make a quick exit after his amazing attempt at a conversation starter.

Aomine’s steak fortunately arrived before he has time to agonise and berate himself over his dumb question any longer than he has. He picks up a knife and a fork, bringing it down in an attempt to dissect the piece of work in front of him when Kise says, “Actually yeah. That’s pretty spot on.”

Kise has his eyes trained on Aomine as he takes a sip of water, watching for his reaction. It takes a second for Aomine to realise that Kise is answering his retarded question, and also the fact that he is not joking. The thought makes Aomine still his fork and knife from proceeding to slice his steak and he isn’t sure whether or not he should respond to that so he settles for a nervous chuckle.

“Aha, don’t worry I’m not a murderer. I’m just a surgeon at the hospital across.”

Aomine heaves a sigh of relief and visibly relaxes to this.

"Sorry. Admittedly, as you can see, I really suck at this."

The thing about the blind dates that Aomine has had in the past is that he did not give two shits about what the other guy thought about him. This time around though, he actually finds himself wanting to please Kise. He wonders if it’s because Kise is good-looking, of it maybe there was something about him. A spark between the both of them.

“Do you work in a police force?”

Kise’s tone is conversational, but his attention on his steak when Aomine realises that he was being asked a question.

“Yeah, inspector. How’d you figure?” He counter-questions.

“Well firstly, you clean up really well. Black and blue, standard police force colours. I see a box of cigs in your front pocket, but somehow you don’t smell of tobacco. Usually, policemen stress smoke during their free time but they almost always cover up any traces of nicotine, albeit doing a very lousy job of it. I must say though, you did a solid job of covering it up”, Kise replies without missing a beat.

Aomine looks at him, mouth agape before he realises that Kise did admit that Aomine looks good and he could feel a hot flush on his cheeks.

“Officer, for someone with a job that requires you to have a straight face on most of time, it sure doesn’t take a lot to fluster you”, there’s a tilt of teasing and amusement in Kise’s statement.

Aomine pouts. He actually does and luckily Kise doesn’t notice this, since he’s still pointedly not looking at him.

“So, correct me if I’m wrong, in which case, never since my taste in guys is usually impeccable. But why does a fine guy like you need help on finding a partner?”

"Why do you?” Aomine replies.

“Now now, don’t turn this on me.”

“Just trying to placate my best friend. She put in a lot of effort in this”, Aomine replies, hoping that the lie isn’t too apparent.

But by the knowing glint in Kise’s eyes, he knew that he failed. Thankfully, Kise did not probe further. Aomine stabs his fork into his steak, playing with his food to pass time. When Kise doesn’t make any attempt to continue the conversation, Aomine shyly admits, “I just don’t think I need someone to complete me. How we’re two pieces of a puzzle and all that bullshit. I mean, I’m comfortable now. Like this.” Before he can stop himself, Aomine continues, “I’m all for relying on someone and surrendering your happiness to them. But what if that person leaves you? What if he takes all your happiness away and you can’t find your own anymore?” 

Kise stops eating then and meets Aomine’s eyes.

“You’re not wrong”, Kise agrees, while nodding slightly. And Aomine can’t help but feel a little disappointed that he agrees.

“But what if the person doesn’t? What if, with him, you find greater happiness? Then doesn’t that make everything else worthwhile?”

With that, Kise continues back to eating as Aomine processes his words. This, this is what Aomine expects because somehow, he’s content. Content that Kise thinks this way. And he wonders if that’s what Kise lives by. He finds that he wants to trust that maybe that’s true for him, as well.

Wow, is this how it’s like to be in a relationship. To have a conversation so serious one moment and then have another incredulous one the next. Because his thoughts are everywhere and he can’t seem to keep up. So, he just hopes and prays that he doesn’t make a fool out of himself.

But perhaps his friends have actually found someone that Aomine wouldn’t mind embarrassing himself over. Someone who he won’t be competitive with, someone who makes him forget about the whole “The only one who can beat me is me” mindset, but instead “Maybe I’m a better me with him.”

Out of sudden, he felt a knee brush against him and when it does, a fuzzy feeling erupts along his skin. Goosebumps appearing. Aomine stares at his steak as his thoughts turn to much. But he doesn’t move his leg away, instead letting it rest beside Kise’s, still touching.

Aomine’s phone vibrates in his pocket, but he can’t seem to bring himself to care enough to check it. So he lets it remain there. He vaguely remembers that Momoi said that she will text him during the date to make sure everything is going well. (Or even, give Aomine the opportunity to escape the “disastrous” date if required.)

The whole date affair goes on without a hitch and Aomine is thankful for that. But eventually, when he leaves the restaurant after paying, he remembers that he still has an unread text in his phone.

He reaches for his phone and unlocked his phone, surprised to see that he has quite a handful of unread texts.

(8:00pm): Dai-chan, did you manage to find him?

(8:30pm): ???? Where are you ?????

(8:40pm): Aomine Daiki did you ditch your date???????

(9:15pm): Oh my god, you’re such a dick sometimes. He waited for an hour and you didn’t turn up. I can’t believe you!!!!

Aomine freezes in his step, dumbfounded as to what his best friend is talking about. He most definitely did not ditch his date, he’s right beside him right now. It was more than evident with how close they were standing together, Kise hanging off his arm like a koala.

‘Oi Momoi, I didn’t ditch him. He’s right beside me.’

It didn’t take even a minute for him to get a reply. And as he looks down on his phone screen, his face etched in horror, he reads, ‘Dai-chan don’t lie to me. Tetsu-chan’s beside me right now. Who are you even with???’

It couldn’t have been longer than two minutes of Aomine just staring at his phone, but Kise must have sensed the tension. “Earth to Aomine? Hello?”

Aomine looks up, meeting Kise’s gaze and he must have seen something in Aomine’s eyes because a look of recognition flashes across his face.

The silence prolongs for awhile more before Aomine says, “You’re not my date.”

At this, Kise apologetically shakes his head even though he doesn’t look like he’s a tad bit sorry that Aomine has landed himself in this situation because of him.

“Oh my god, you can’t be serious.”

Aomine pulls his arm away so swiftly that Kise ends up stumbling forward, almost face planting into the concrete floor. He brings his hand up to the bridge of his nose, pinching it in agony.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck Kise? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?” It mostly sounds like an accusation, although there’s a hint of question in that. And Aomine watches as Kise opens and closes his mouth, like a goldfish.

Aomine thinks that right now, at this moment, he’d much rather be stuck in a ditch somewhere. Or better, dead.

“Shit fuck! Here I thought you were interested — I actually thought I had a chance with you”, Aomine croaks out.

"Calm down," Kise says eventually.

Aomine looks up at Kise and stares at him incredulously, as though he just said something in utter gibberish. “Wow alright yeah I’ll calm down, sure. Because I definitely did not mistake someone else who’s not my blind date as my blind date. And I definitely did not stand up some other poor guy in the process. Okay, yeah.”

Aomine starts walking the other direction but as he moves away, he suddenly feels a tug on his arm. And he looks down to see that Kise has grabbed his sleeve.

Aomine audibly sighs as he waits for Kise to explain himself. He tries his best not to focus on the hand, tugging on his shirt, some sort of resemblance for him. The tiny silver of hope that Aomine unconsciously hangs onto and he hates himself for how hopeful he feels.

“Listen I admit, I thought you were my long lost friend or something at first”, Kise begins explaining, his eyes directed towards the ground. “I mean, you just sat down and apologised for ‘keeping me waiting for too long’. Then you sat there so silently with that endearing look on your face and .. I don’t know. You were —“

It was quiet for a few long seconds before Aomine realises that Kise was blushing.

Cute.

Aomine shakes his head. “I was?” He supplies, in hopes to help Kise out.

“You were cute. You were real. And you were just sitting there”, Kise continue. His eyes darting everywhere but to Aomine’s face. “You were there and I enjoyed your company. I enjoyed looking at you.”

“I enjoyed you.”

Aomine stares at Kise speechless, before Kise mutters, “Shit that sounded better in my head. Fucking hell, what is ‘I enjoyed you’ ?”

And then Aomine smiles to himself before chuckling quietly.

Kise looks up then, straight into Aomine’s eyes and he smiles shyly. “I like you Aomine. More than you would think, considering how we only met once.” Kise reaches out to Aomine’s letting his fingers trail along his arm before he continues, “And I was hoping maybe you like me too?”

Aomine’s arm feels like it’s burning, just from Kise’s touch.

“I don’t date”, Aomine begins and he sees Kise’s face fall in disappointment. He starts retracting his fingers from Aomine’s arm but before he could retract fully, Aomine continues.

“But I’ll make an exception for you.”

With this, Kise visibly lightens up and Aomine brings his hand to the back of Kise’s neck and pulls him forward. And in the blink of an eyes, their lips meet.

Aomine moves his hand from the back of his neck upwards. Into his hair, tangling his fingers, basking in the moan that Kise let’s out. Then Kise tilts his head forward to deepen the kiss. Suddenly, there’s teeth and tongue and Aomine can feel his toes curling, goosebumps erupting.

Aomine thinks that maybe if this is how it feels like to be in a relationship, how kisses will always make him feel like this, then he considers the red meat that he had earlier was well worth it.

Kise pulls away after a full minute, but not completely. He then pecks Aomine, once more before he pulls away eventually.

“Why thank you officer. That’s awfully generous of you.” Kise coyly replies before both of them are closing the distance again.

And Aomine questions whether it’s lucky of him to have mistaken his blind date. But then again, it wouldn’t have been the case if it wasn’t Kise.

So he finally concludes that maybe, Kise is his only exception after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to get this out before the year ends, so this is my take on awkward Aomine and suave Kise but kind of awkward too. Hope you guys enjoyed it!


End file.
